What is Black History Month?

Monday, 11 September 2006 05:03

It is the month in which we bear witness to the progress, richness and diversity of Black achievement. It should be seen as a time for black people to reflect on how far we have come and how far we still have to go. It is a time for Black people all over to reflect on both the history and teachings of Black people whose contributions are still too little known.

FOUNDING OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH

In 1915, historian Carter G. Woodson proposed a "Negro History Week" to honour the history and contributions of African Americans.

Nine years later, his dream became reality. Woodson chose the second week in February to pay tribute to the birthdays of two Americans that dramatically affected the lives of Blacks: Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and Frederick Douglas (February 14). The week-long observance officially became Black History Month in 1976.

BLACK PEOPLE IN BRITAIN BEFORE THE WINDRUSH.

Jeffrey Green argues that to ignore the diverse black presence in Britain prior to the 1940s is to perpetuate a distorted a view of British history..

How do we explain the widespread ignorance of the presence of people of African and Caribbean origin in British history?

Black men and women appear, for example, in Pepy's diaries; in eighteenth-century portraits; sailing with Captain Cook on the Endeavour; not to mention the stories of Thackeray, Trollope, Dornford Yates, W.S. Gilbert, Laurie Lee and Evelyn Waugh. Yet there is a general misapprehension that people of African descent were

absent from Britain until recently. This misconception has been nurtured by a belief that apparent exceptions can be ignored.
There is a further mistaken belief that those black people wo do appear were temporary residents - and often worked in unskilled occupations - and this added to the notion that they made little contribution to British society.

In 1998, celebrations were held for the half-century anniversary of the arrival of the immigrant ship Empire Windrush from Jamaica, but these often merely re-confirmed the prejudice that the black presence in Britain was recent, alien and working-class.

EVIDENCE

However, a study of the historic evidence reveals that people of African birth and descent lived in Britain four centuries before the Windrush reached Tilbury.

They and their descendants usually conformed to the prevailing social rules in language, education, style and ambitions, and, accordingly, are to be found at every level of British society. These men, women and children were widespread geographically, even though it is not possible to gauge their overall numbers. But investigations restricted to cities such as London, Cardiff, Liverpool, Glasgow, Tyneside only add to the mistaken stereotype of a foreign-born black working class living in urban ghetto communities.

The assumption that black people were largely absent from Britain until the arrival of Windrush cannot be successfully challenged until it is realised that black people had as broad a range of experiences in Britain as others. For more information and pictures about the historical presence of black people in Britain call the McKenzie Heritage Picture Archives at 020 8469 2000 or visit their website at http://www.mckenziehpa.com.